Renewable Energy at the Site

In 2013, solar developer Clean Energy Collective completed construction of a 500-kilowatt solar project adjacent to the site. EPA helped facilitate the location of the solar array, while ensuring that groundwater monitoring functioned properly. In 2010, legislation passed requiring tax rebates for community-owned solar programs. The project was the first community solar program of Xcel Energy’s Clean Energy Collective. Builders projected the solar array will produce 830,000 kilowatts of power in the first year, and reduce carbon dioxide output by 15,000 tons in the first 20 years. The site demonstrates how reuse can be effectively coordinated with remedy components.

Additional solar opportunities are currently being pursued for the former landfill areas, but are dependent on agreements between developers, utilities and landowners.

Activity and Use Limitations

At this site, activity and use limitations that EPA calls institutional controls are in place. Institutional controls play an important role in site remedies because they reduce exposure to contamination by limiting land or resource use.
They also guide human behavior. For instance, zoning restrictions prevent land uses – such as residential uses – that are not consistent with the level of cleanup. For more background, see Institutional Controls.

An intergovernmental agreement is in place for the U.S. 36 interstate corridor that restricts development on the Superfund site and on property immediately surrounding the site.